


Lodestone

by rainlady



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Alpha Peter Hale, Alternate Universe, Both Stilinski Boys Are Hunters, Canon-Typical Violence, Everyone is Over 18 Unless Otherwise Mentioned, F/M, Hunter Stiles Stilinski, M/M, Magical Stiles Stilinski, Pack Dynamics, Reworking Canon to Fit in My World, Semi-Sentient Roscoe, Slow Burn, The Nemeton is Kind of a Dick
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-03-22
Updated: 2016-03-22
Packaged: 2018-05-28 08:18:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,300
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6321982
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rainlady/pseuds/rainlady
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The Stilinskis are not your average family of hunters.  For one thing they use magic as well as more conventional weapons and specialize in hunting more dangerous prey then your average out of control supernatural beasty.  Things like rampaging hell beasts, Rouge Argents that don't know when to take no for an answer, hospitals full of creepy doctors in even creepier masks and whispering trees with plans of their own.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Lodestone

**Author's Note:**

> I have not seen any of Season 5 so this is my take on the whole Dread Doctors, The Beast, Hell Hound thing. Theo and the Chimera Pack are probably not going to be a thing in this. Stiles and the Sheriff have never lived in Beacon Hills in this so they don't know any of the people living there (besides Chris) what happened in BH since the fire and since Peter woke up will be a mix of reworked show happenings and stuff I've come up with myself. All characters are over 18 unless it's specifically mentioned otherwise (ie Lydia is 18 at the start of the fic so not underage in her relationship with Chris). The relationship between Peter and Stiles will be slow burn. Like really slow burn. You've been warned if that's not your thing. I'm probably playing fast and loose with Nemeton lore here both TW and real world but...it's fantasy and an AU and I Do What I Want.
> 
> I've been working on this for a while and I'm finally tired enough of poking at it to post it. Really not sure how I feel about it but I'm having fun reworking the series in my head to fit this universe and I just really wanted to write something where both the Stilinski Boys were Hunters. More hopefully soon but it will depend on my muses in terms of how soon.

* * *

“Hey kiddo, we're about to pass the sign...” 

Stiles yawned and stretched as he grudgingly woke from his nap at his father's voice and shake of his shoulder. He blinked blearily in front of him and then sat up further in his seat as they approached the sign taking in all the important bits of information the faded wood provided.

Welcome to Beacon Hills. Established 1858. And down in the very bottom right hand corner partially covered by vines that hadn't been cut back in a while and something you would only notice if you were really looking for it was a triskele symbol carved into the wood. Most normal people would think it was curious thing to find on a sign if they bothered to notice it at all. For the supernatural community it was the most important piece of information the sign held. It was there to show that this land belonged to and was protected by the Hale Pack.

Stiles knew the Hales had been on this land on a lot earlier than 1858. From what he had gathered from the limited amount of historical data that he could find on the pack they had started out as part of a much larger pack on the east coast. They had splintered off because that pack had grown too large and they had headed west called there by the large expanses of unclaimed wilderness and probably also by what had called everyone out west to the territory at the time. Gold. From the records they had managed to amass quite the fortune before the main gold rush went bust and had at some point they discovered a Nemeton and slowly claimed up the land around it as their territory. Eventually the town had sprung up around them and the pack had easily slipped into the role of protector for both the land and the people that lived on it and both had been there ever since.

Not even the fire and almost complete decimation of the pack at the hands of the Argents could drive them from it it. Stiles had to admire their tenacity even if it meant that they would probably be a right pain to deal with in the months to come.

As if on cue a flash of light in the shadows of the forest surrounding the road caught Stiles' attention. He squinted his eyes and made out a pair of dark shapes running in the foliage along side the road. He rolled his eyes and let out a huff of air.

“Not really subtle are they?” he asked his dad as he gestured with his head towards the window. Full shift wolves. None of the literature he'd read on the pack had said anything about that. This could be a much more interesting trip then he'd originally thought it was going to be.

His dad gave the running animals his attention for a brief moment before turning it back to the road. He shrugged his shoulders and set his son a lopsided smile. “Well we did just cross into their territory in a magical tank covered in runes disguised as a run-down ancient Jeep I think that earns them the right to be suspicious of us.”

“They asked us to come,” Stiles complained with a roll of his eyes as he reached out to run a soothing finger against Roscoe's dashboard as the jeep rumbled a complaint beneath them at being labeled as run-down. “Now they're going to give us a hard time about being here?”

“Technically Argent asked us to come here, not the wolves,” his father said. “He was pretty upset after his girlfriend was kidnapped and then rescued with a hole in her head. I don't believe he and Alpha Hale are actually on that good of terms...which is understandable all things considered...”

Considering the history between the Hales and the Argent family it was a wonder that Argent hadn't been chased from the area or just killed outright. Still the wolves had agreed to let them come here and poke around. They wouldn't have agreed to come all the way to California if the local Alpha hadn't agreed to them being there. That's just how the Stilinskis work. Secrecy among supernatural was pretty much impossible and trying to sneak around behind an Alpha's back was foolish and in poor taste.

“So Argent isn't exactly part of the local pack,” Stiles mused softly, he reached into the backpack at his feet and pulled out the thick manila case file and flipped through it. “That's not much a surprise but if he doesn't get along with them...how did he get the okay from the Big Bad Wolf to let us in?”

“The girl that was kidnapped, Lydia Martin,” his father said. “She's part of the Pack.”

Stiles flipped through the file and stopped on the page about Lydia Martin. She was his age, a bit older but not by much. He felt his eyebrows raise into his head and wondered just how she had ended up with cranky, rough Chris Argent of all people. The picture they had of her seemed to be her most recent yearbook photo. Red hair and pretty and her big smile showed that she knew it. There was a notation under the information section of her file that surprised Stiles even more.

“She's a banshee?” he asked in shock. He hadn't dealt much with banshees but all the ones that he had met had been far older then she was. What had she gone through to have her powers activated before they would have done so naturally.

“Recently woken from what we've been told. I think she had something to do with their resident Alpha waking up from his coma but the details are kind of sketchy. I don't think she's got much control of her powers and there's certainly no one around here that can help her with it so when we're done I figured we can point her in the right direction of a mentor if she wants one. But her unscheduled stay in the hospital is the only reason Alpha Hale has grudgingly allowed us onto their pack land,” his father said. But we'll only being dealing with Argent and we're only here to deal with the hospital. We're not going to be getting involved with anything else they might have going on while we're here. They don't want us to get involved and I personally don't want to get involved. From what I've heard the less involved we can be in Beacon Hills the better as it tends to suck people in and then not let them go again”

Stiles nodded his head in agreement there. He certainly didn't want to get stuck in this backwater little town in the middle of nowhere for any longer than necessary. He already missed Chicago and wanted to get back to it and his studies and his books as quickly as possible. 

He let his eyes fall shut again even though they were drawing close to town and he wanted to be awake when they drove through it. He let his energy and concentration float out over the forest. It was harder to do while in the moving vehicle but the runes placed on Roscoe allowed him more purchase then any other normal car would. Once his energy was loose he spread out trying to figure out how many wolves were current trailing them. He was quickly distracted by a beacon that shone up brighter then anything around it from the middle of the forest. It was how the town and the county surrounding it had gotten it's name. The areas fabled Nemeton.

It wasn't the first Nemeton Stiles had come across in his lifetime, he had something of a knack for locating them, and he shivered thinking of the last one they had come across. Still he followed the mystical siren like call it was putting out and pushed closer to the the source . What he found waiting for him when he got there made him jerk his eyes open and frown deeply as he shook the Nemeton off of him again. It took him longer to extract himself from it's pull then he would have liked.

“Their Nemeton is a mess,” he said after a moment.

“Stiles,” his father said with a warning tone. “We are not here for that. We're not even supposed to know where it's located because it's been hidden.”

“But it needs help, Dad,” Stiles insisted quietly his frown growing as he felt the press of its magic brush up against him again.

“They have a local druid to deal with that, Stiles,” his father pointed out.

“Alan Deaton is a hack and you know it,” Stiles scoffed, he crossed his arms across his chest with a huff.

“Careful with your words, son,” his dad said with a frown. “These woods have furry ears with excellent hearing and that man is their emissary.”

“No he was the previous Alpha's emissary,” Stiles countered quickly. “As far as I can tell he has nothing to do with the current Pack other then patching up their wounds when they get into too much trouble to do it for themselves.” His dad cut him a glance complete with a surprised raised eyebrow. “What? I do sometimes...on occasion...when it interests me...read the case files you give me....sometimes.”

“Amazing,” his father said dryly. “Still that doesn't change the fact that there's someone here that is supposed to be taking care of it.”

“Supposed to be is the key words in there,” Stiles muttered with a shake of his head throwing out some air quotes around the supposed to be part of that statement “I can tell you without a doubt that Deaton hasn't had anything to do with it in years.”

“And just how do you know that, Stiles?” his father asked in a low dangerous voice.

“It told me...” Stiles answered with a shrug “It clung to me like a barnacle and whispered everything in my ear and...”

“You let that thing in!” his father snapped sharply. The jeep swerved suddenly off the road and ground to a halt. His father slapped his hand against the dashboard easily activating the wards that would block anyone from outside from hearing their conversation, supernatural wolfy ears or not. “Have you gone mad son? You know better then to let one of those things into your head. You know what happened the last time!”

“Dad, really,” he said in as reassuring tone as he could manage. “It wasn't that bad. It didn't try to hurt me it only wanted to share information...”

“That's how it always starts with these things and you know it! You let it in for just a little bit and then....” his dad shuddered and shook his head. “No, Stiles, we are not doing this. YOU are not doing this. This isn't even what we're here for. We're here for the hospital not their stupid magical tree.”

“But...” Stiles said reaching out to grasp his father's shoulder.

“No!” his father snapped angrily trying to brush his hand away from him. “This is not going to happen. Not this time.” 

“Dad it needs help,” he insisted quietly, squeezing his father's shoulder gently. “It's practically begging for it. It didn't want to let me go...”

“That is really not helping your argument, Kiddo,” his dad looked dangerously like he was contemplating the ax they had stored in the secret compartment of the jeep and just what it could potentially do to the Nemeton.

“I was strong enough to fight it off, Dad,” he continued firmly. “The next person that passes by might not be so lucky. They might not even know they have a connection to it as it uses them. Who knows what it'll do once it gets more power. We need to keep that from happening. Isn't that what we're supposed to be doing? Helping those that need help even if they don't know they need our help?” 

He gave his dad “The Look.” The look his mother had taught him when he was younger. He pulled out the wide, innocent eyes he knew had worked well for him in the past in terms of getting his father to do what he wanted. Inside his nerves were clanging at him. One part of him wanted nothing more than to agree with his dad to have nothing to do with the Nemeton. The stronger, more logical side of him, knew that if they didn't try to help deal with this now it would lead to bigger problems for the town down the road.

“Jesus, kid,” his father muttered and rubbed at his temple like he was warding off a big headache. “Sometimes you are far too much like your mother for your own good.” His father sighed and dripped his head fully into his hands for a long moment.

Stiles beamed knowing that this meant his father was going to agree with him. He made sure to have the smile wiped from his face before his father looked up again. From the suspicious glare his father cast in his direction it didn't seem like he was quite as successful at hiding his glee as he would have liked.

“This is what's going to happen,” his father said putting in his sternest most no-nonsense Dad and Leader voice and expression. “We were brought here to do a job. A very important job. If these people are willing to kidnap teenagers and put holes in their heads to suit their purposes that means they are very dangerous and need to be taken care of. So we're going to do that, we're going to take care of them.”

“I know that dad, Dad,” Stiles said with a huff. “Of course I'm not saying that we shouldn't take care of what we were brought here to do but that doesn't mean we shouldn't deal with this other potential problem too.”

“No arguments on this,” his dad said firmly. “We will do our job and we will concentrate on nothing other then that job until it is completed.”

“But...”

“After we've completed the job,” his dad continued ignoring the protest. “If we haven't overstayed our welcome you can bring up the Nemeton. If Alpha Hale seems amendable and agrees to our help with it...and only IF he agrees to it...then we'll call in some back up and do what we can take care of it as a group.”

“Alright...” Stiles agreed reluctantly. 

Internally his head already running a mile a minute over the problem searching for any possible solutions he might be able to source out for it. He would need to see the Nemeton before he could try to figure out what needed to be done. Maybe he could get someone to show him exactly where it was. Not that he wouldn't be able to locate it on his own. It clearly wanted to be found. But it still would be lots easier if someone who already knew where it was would show him.

“Stiles,” his father interrupted his runaway thoughts with a snap of his fingers in front of Stiles face. Once he had Stiles' attention he reached out and gripped his chin and force him to look at him. “You need to stop wherever your mind is headed and listed to me. There will be no traipsing through these woods looking for it. There will be no opening yourself up and letting it inside to try and reason with it or help it. You are not to have anything to do with this thing without backup.”

“Yeah, Dad, sure....”

“There is going to be no arguments about this,” his dad continued. “There will be no butts and no lying or going behind my back to do this on your own. The last time you tangled with one of these things I almost lost you,” his dad said and a dark shadow crossed through his eyes with the memory. “And from the sounds of it this one is way more desperate. I will not under and circumstance go through that again. Do you understand...are we clear on this?”

Stiles let out a breath of air and nodded his head. He had no real wish to repeat what had happened with the last Nemeton. Dying young once was more then enough. He knew his father was being smart and that he was also right about the whole thing. He slapped a door closed in the back of his mind blocking the Nemeton's whispering to him. It let out an outrage howl as the connection broke that let Stiles know that it probably would be extra cranky with him when it came time to deal with it but probably nothing he could handle.

“If I get any suspicion at all that you're going against me on this I will send you back to base so fast your head will spin,” his father continued finally releasing Stiles' chin and pressing a kiss against his temple. “And I will make your grandmother watch you so you will have to deal with her for however long I'm here dealing with deadly, dangerous things all by myself...”

“You're horrible you know that,” Stiles muttered. “What would Grandma say if she knew you used her and your own health and safety as threat to keep me in line?”

“Who do you think I learned this tactic from in the first place, Son?” he father asked with a raised brow.

Stiles chuckled at the image of his grandmother threatening his father when his father was his age and wondered just what sort of trouble his father had gotten up to. He made a mental note to ask her when they got back home again.

“I promise I will behave to the the best of my ability,” he said with a very serious face.

His father stared at him for a long moment and then snorted and started up the car again. “I guess that's the most I can ask for. Just...try not to get yourself killed again...my heart can't take it Stiles.”

“That I can promise to try very hard not to do,” Stiles said with complete honestly.

His father nodded and pulled the car back on the road towards town. Stiles pressed his hand against Roscoe's dash and let down the spell to block out sounds. He thought for a moment he caught a flash of red eyes in a dark wolf shape right outside his window but when he glanced back they were gone. He shivered despite himself and wondered internally what the Alpha was like. There wasn't much on Alpha Hale in the file other then the fact that he had somehow survived the fire and had been rather pissed off when he'd woken up six years later to find his territory overrun by the people who had murdered his family.

The town was everything and nothing like Stiles had been expecting. He watched the buildings roll by and ran his hand through his hair already feeling boredom tugging at him. “Well,” he said after they turned onto the Main Street and passed by the local Sheriff's station. “It's not quite as Mayberry as I was expecting but...” he waved his hands towards the town hall with an actual clock tower at the top of it as they drove past.

“We'll try not to be here too long,” his father said. “You'll find a way to survive it.”

“I don't know dad,” he said as he caught sight of what was apparently supposed to be the town's library and groaned. “I really don't think I will.”

“If things stretch too long you can go to San Francisco for a weekend or something,” his father promised. “Or maybe if you behave yourself and act like anything other then the hooligan you are and can get on his good side you can ask Alpha Hale nicely if he'll let you see the Hale Family vault. I hear it runs for miles underneath the town...”

“There's a vault!” Stiles said as excitement surged through him. A family as old as the Hales and with as deep of ties to the area as they did were bound to have some interesting books or items squirreled away. “Why didn't you say so in the first place!”

“Guess you didn't real that case file as carefully as you claim to have, now did you?” his father said with a smirk.

Stiles glared and reached for the case file to scour it again for any mentions of the vault but he didn't get a chance. The jeep turned into a sleepy neighborhood and then turned again into the driveway of a house and stopped. He peered out of the window at the house. It was in decent enough condition and looked like it may have been renovated recently. Two floors with an attached two car garage and a porch wrapping around the front. It was covered in white siding and red brick. There was a basketball hoop attached to the garage and an actual white picket fence surrounding the whole thing.

“Seriously, Dad?” he groused in irritation. “This looks like 1960's suburbia threw up all over the lawn!”

“It's the best of the three we were offered. Again I remind you that we won't be here that long if we can concentrate on why we're here and get the job done efficiently.”

Stiles rolled his eyes and shoved the case file into his pack and then pushed open the door and stumbled out onto the driveway and stared up at the house. There were empty flower beds on either side of the steps that led up to the front porch. He itched to fill them with useful flowers and plants. He wondered what the backyard looked like. If it was big enough for a small garden of herbs and other plants. As soon as he had the thought he shook his head and pushed the thought right back out again. His mother would have convinced him to plant the things he was envisioning in his head. 

But his dad was right. 

They wouldn't be here long enough for any of it to matter. Stiles didn't want to be here long enough for it to matter. He gripped that thought and shouldered his bag. Time to get to work.

“What time is Argent coming over for the briefing?”

“After 6,” his dad said opening the back of the jeep to pull out the few bags that were stored back there. The rest of their stuff had been sent ahead the week before or was going to be provided for them locally. “He gets off of work then.”

“What kind of job does he have?” Stiles asked curiously. The one time he'd met Chris Argent when he'd been very young he'd been dealing weapons. It was hard to picturing him doing anything else.

“Apparently he's the town Sheriff,” his dad said with smirk.

“Wow he must really hate that,” Stiles said with a snort. He definitely couldn't wrap his head around Argent being the local law and order.

“Apparently it helps keep everyone in line,” his father answered with a shrug. “You want to go inside and order some pizza and spend the next couple of hours making fun of how terrible it is?”

That did sound really tempting but Stiles had been cooped up in the car for the past four hours and he needed to stretch his legs. “How about a rain check on the pizza for like an hour or so? I need to take a walk.”

“Stiles...” his father said in a strong warning tone and a frown on his face. “We're only supposed to deal with Argent. Don't go seeking the pack out on your own.”

“I know that dad,” Stiles said with a twist of his lips. “I have no plans to introduce myself to the locals. I just want to get feel for the land and plot out the ley lines and stuff. Things I need to do on my own two feet. I have no plans to talk to anyone.”

His father pinned him with a disbelieving glance, rubbed at his temple again and shut the back of the jeep and locked it with his press of his hand against the frame “Fine, whatever,” he said with a huff knowing his son well enough to know that arguing against this was a lost cause. “Try not to get into too much trouble...and don't be long though because I'm starving and if you're not back in an hour I'm going to eat all the pizza myself and I'm going to order extra meat just because your saddling me with the unpacking by myself.”

Stiles huffed at the threat but gave his dad a quick hug and shouldered his pack a little more firmly and headed down the driveway and turned back towards town. He hadn't lied to his father. He really did need to plot out the ley lines and other magical conduits in town and the sooner he did it the better off they were going to be when they needed them for the job. He also really had no plans to seek out anyone from the pack or talk to anyone in town at all. However if the pack decided to try and approach him first he certainly would do nothing to try and convince them not to do it.

He had to admit he was kind of looking forward to seeing what move the wolves would make first.

* * *  
TBC


End file.
